RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
How do we look and see?
Globalisation has resulted in world-wide access to information and knowledge (Forbes, 2006). With all of us looking at the same sources, there is a failure to turn understanding into imagination and stagnation in communication creativity (Hara, n.d). We need to look for design and inspiration, not within reach, something our competitors haven’t seen to truly create something honest and unique (Forbes, 2006). We need to learn how to see anew.
Habituation is a process whereby our brains encode everyday things to free up space for more. It would be exhausting to notice every single detail, and we would have no time to learn new things. The downside is that this stops us from seeing and is explained in the analogy of someone living next to a train station who eventually fails to notice the rattling of the train because it has become so commonplace (Fadell, 2015).
We need to start considering the unknown world and look at life through the lens of a child. The more we are exposed to something, the less we see and realise things that children, who haven’t yet established those habits notice. Children are clairvoyant (Berger 2012); when they run into problems, they immediately try to solve them and sometimes better than us (Forbes, 2006). They ask a million questions as they try to make sense of the world around them and see things through a clear perspective. Steve Jobs tells us to look at anything we produce through the eyes of a new consumer, customer or first-time buyer, where everything is new and exciting. What are their needs and wants (Fadell, 2015)?
We need to start approaching things differently and unlearn everything we know to gain unique insight. We need to consider the concept of unknowing the world. (Hara, n.d). We take for granted the way we see the world and ascertain only our perspective. John Berger lifts the blinkers off our eyes in his documentary and book Ways of Seeing.
Art has a lot to teach us; it’s the best place to learn the skills of sensemaking and observation. John Berger has a critical way of understanding art, through learning to examine something in front of you by keeping the context in the frame. Who is showing this art to you? What sensory cues are there to shape your perceptions? How does reproduction affect the image itself? We need to learn to look critically and honestly at a situation or problem (Berger 2012).
Art is a still thing, unique in the uniqueness of the single place it exists. Reproductions make the meaning ambiguous and allow manipulation through changing narratives, movement and sound. All these manipulations provide us with insight and techniques to change what we see and present along our design journey (Critchlow, 2018).
The Situationist rejected commercialism and mass production and sought to recapture and transform everyday life actively. They wanted people to discover what they love and hate about a city through maps, games, collage to encourage people to explore and see their environment through new eyes (Edwards, n.d).
So how do we go about seeing the invisible, the unknown and not the obvious?
Tony Fedell presents us with a three principled plan for creating a better design by seeing the invisible and not the obvious.
Look broader
Step back and focus on the bigger picture instead of all the little problems and nuances along the way. John Berger demonstrates how looking at a piece of art tells the full story, and yet, if you focus in on different sections or view things in isolation, a different story and narrative is created.
Look closer
Focus on the tiny details that don’t seem relevant or inconsequential. The small details we sometimes don’t see are the key to solving a problem or creating something unique. The Powers of Ten film by Charles and Ray Eames illustrates the power of scale in visualisation by panning out from the scene of a man to the edge of the known universe and then coming back into the man, his hand and eventually the level of a carbon atom. Comedians are another fantastic example of people who pay attention to the most little, inconsequential details of life. The observation may make a joke of turning a tap from hot to cold and back again as one never gets it quite right. Every time we shower, we see this, but a comedian can notice such details and transform them into entertaining content (Fadell, 2015).
Think Younger
Seeing comes before words (Berger, 2012). We know the world more clearly when we see it for the first time.
The more we are exposed to something, the less we see and realise things that children, who haven’t yet established those habits notice. If you have young members on a design team or young minds, they cause everyone to think younger. We need to get back there, see little details, look broader, look closer and think younger so we can stay beginners (Fadell, 2015).
Nathan Jacobs Ideas Worth Spreading proposes we trick our minds into gaining a different perspective through optical illusions. The photoreceptors in our brain assemble information into the three-dimensional world we see around us. It uses light and assumptions about visual details to create an edited, tailored vision of the world. Optical illusions trick our mind into seeing things in a different way which can spark creative thought (Jacobs 2014).
Fig. 2: Ted Ideas worth spreading, 2014.
Kenya Hara proposes Ex-Formation as a counterpart to information or unknowing as a teaching concept of making known by making unknown. Where inquisitiveness replaces overwhelming facts, sensual delights replace analysis and insights and ideas are valued over points in free-flowing discussions and debates giving rise to excellent solutions and visualisations. Technology bombards us with so many facts that we just brush the surface of them. Conversation, exchanging of words, dialogues, or speculation enables us to knead together knowledge so our imagination can reach the realm of the unknown by exploring the possibilities of new modes of perception and methods of expression.
There are countless ways to reach and capture knowledge finally; how one arrives there and the methods they use to do so are up to each individual (Hara, n.d).
Sketchbooks are a fantastic design tool to capture the thought and establish design process. They are not used to solve the problem, but instead as a means of expression without boundaries where the vast ideas and feeling in our head are put on paper so connections between ideas may occur, as done by art director and designer Frederique Daubal and Paulus Dreibholza. They are a collection of thoughts and memories much like a visual diary which defines and refine things providing insights and ideas we can return to, a process embodied by designer and typographer Paulus Driebholza and commercial artist Ed Fella (Brereton, 2009).
Fig. 3: Brereton, n.d.
Fig. 4: Brereton, n.d.
The camera broadened the reach of art and imagery the world over, and photography is a recording mechanism used by many today. Rob Forbes makes use of snapshot galleries to capture his way of seeing the world through charming juxtapositions, found art and urban patterns. His slide shows open your eyes to the world around you by noticing everyday sites and situations that are never a focal point of our day (Forbes, 2006). Vivian Maier documented over 100 000 negatives of people and life in the Big Apple over her lifetime, creating a wealth of insight into the time. Maxwell Granger allows us to play the voyeur through photographs of couples lounging on sofas to friends playing video games in their homes giving us insight into the intimate and serendipitous nature of people in their environment (Edwards, n.d).
Juxtaposition as a means of combining elements to capture something new and exciting. Stephen Gil’s book ‘Hackney Flowers’ creates warm, poetic and visually stimulating images that leave an overwhelming sense of colour, emotion and rhythm extracted from a single borough of London—made through the collection of flowers, seeds, berries and other objects from the area photographed alongside his photographs.
The film is another means of recording a different perspective, as illustrated by John Smith. In the Avante-Garde movie 'The Girl Chewing Gum,' a commanding voice over appears to direct the action in a busy London street. As the instructions become more absurd and fantasised, we realise that the director, absent from the shot is fictional. He describes, not prescribes the events that take place before him. Smith embraced the ‘spectre of narrative’, to play word against picture and chance against the order in a sharp, witty drama (Rees, 1995).
Archives are a place of records where one can gain insight into everything from the people, architecture and history of a time and place. Reading and exploring archives can give us a unique view on a time and place (Edwards, n.d).
Documentation or writing is a timeless means of capturing what we see. Simply walking around, exploring, observing and documenting what one sees in a given environment is a principle first brought to light by the Situationists. Charles Booth, an English researcher, innovatively showcased the working-class life in Life and Labour of the People in London during the 19th century. Both he and his investigators recorded visits and interviews with people in over 400 notebooks, then transcribed this information onto a map, giving us a unique view on poverty, industry and religious influences of the different areas of London at the time.
A designer needs to see differently so we can solve problems, create unique content, ideas and inspiration (Forbes, 2019). When you know what is there instead of what you assume or are told is there you can view client briefs and design in a new light. A fresh perspective also shows the social purpose and responsibility design can bring to the populace through awareness and challenge of the social and political environments in which it is presented. Ideology fought for by Beyer and the Situationists.
The reading inspires and challenges me to wake up each day and see how I can experience the world anew.
WORKSHOP CHALLENGE
BEAUTY IN THE BARBARIC
Flower Street, Oranjezicht, Cape Town, South Africa, 8001.
The crime rate in South Africa is one of the highest in the world, with 58 people killed daily (Crime Stats SA, 2020). I have been a victim of home, and you would be hard-pressed to find a South African who hasn’t. Household security is paramount while living in this country and houses in both low and affluent areas are surrounded by burglar bars, electric fencing and barbed wire. We are so used to these visible security measures that we now fail to notice them, and yet to an outsider; it seems barbaric. My street exploration over the past week showcased this in a different light. I saw how very different each homes security features are and how they have tried to incorporate them into the landscape and décor. The colours, textures, intricate patterns and environments in which the security structures are set can create beautiful facades I wanted to showcase in a positive light, because to a South African, they are a lifeline and how we sleep soundly at night.
Fig. 5: Wiggett, 2020.
I then turned all the imagery into a photographic book. The chained outer cover represented the generalized perception of barbaric security measures, which then contrasted with the clean, beautiful imagery within.
Photographic book of security images.
REFLECTIONS
The readings this week inspired and challenged me to wake up each day and see how I can experience the world anew. My camera got dusted off and put to creative use outside of product photography. I became an explorer, rising before sunrise to capture the best light and looking for the subject matter, and perspectives I envisioned a child might notice.
I found it interesting that this insight bled into my work and personal life. I ran through the mountains and along the beaches, marvelling at the sound of the waves lapping at the shore or the orange and pink hues the sun cast on the hills. Where I had previously taken this for granted, I now saw everything in a new light. I tried an African fable inspired approach to an alcohol brand I was working on based on a children's book I had read my niece and nephew that week which was very well received for its cultural relevance and ingenuity.
I am trying to emulate the innocence, joy and wonder a child embodies in every experience and work endeavour that comes my way. I am learning how to see anew.
Reference: A.L. Rees, A Directory of British Film & Video Artists, 1995.
Reference: Brereton, R., 2009. Sketchbooks. 1st ed. London: Laurence King Publishers, pp.52-55, 82-85, 94-101, 204-209.
Reference: Edwards, S. n.d. Looking, seeing and capturing, Module GDE710 Contemporary Practice.
Reference: Forbes, R., 2006. Ways Of Seeing. [online] Ted.com. Available at: <https://www.ted.com/talks/rob_forbes_ways_of_seeing#t-211564> [Accessed 30 October 2020].
Reference: Jacobs, N., 2014. Ideas Worth Spreading. [online] Ted.com. Available at: <https://www.ted.com/talks/nathan_s_jacobs_how_optical_illusions_trick_your_brain#t-303753> [Accessed 30 October 2020].
Reference: Fadell, T., 2015. The First Secret Of Design Is ... Noticing. [online] Ted.com. Available at: <https://www.ted.com/talks/tony_fadell_the_first_secret_of_design_is_noticing> [Accessed 30 October 2020].
Reference: Hara, K., n.d. Ex-Formation Futari. 1st ed. Lar Muller, pp.pp. 06-07, 08-21, 24-31, 56-64, 184-189, 446-453.
Reference: Berger, J., 2012. Ways Of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corp., pp.1 - 31.
Reference: Critchlow, T., 2018. Ways Of Seeing. [online] Tomcritchlow.com. Available at: <https://tomcritchlow.com/2018/10/29/ways-of-seeing/> [Accessed 29 October 2020].
Reference: Crimestatssa.com. 2020. Crime Stats SA. [online] Available at: <https://www.crimestatssa.com> [Accessed 1 November 2020].
Figure 1: Wiggett, Storm. Notes Photography. [image] 1 November 2020.
Figure 2: Ted Ideas worth spreading, 2014. How Optical Illusions Trick Your Brain. [image] Available at: <https://www.ted.com/talks/nathan_s_jacobs_how_optical_illusions_trick_your_brain#t-33527> [Accessed 1 November 2020].
Figure 3, 4: Laurence King Publishers, n.d. Sketchbooks; The Hidden Art Of Designers, Illustrators And Creatives. [image].
Figure 5: Wiggett, Storm. Notes Photography. [image] 1 November 2020.